I was taught that gravity is a fundamental force but now I'm being told that gravity isn't a force, it's just the curvature of spacetime caused by massive objects.
So what is it? Are we constantly being pulled towards the earth or are we constantly free falling through curved spacetime?
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answers:
Squirrely say: It's a force all right
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Art say: It's a force, the force just is not between two objects but the curvature of the space between them.
Traditionally gravity is viewed as the attraction of two objects , in fact it is space pushing against those objects.
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oldprof say: As force is nothing more or less than a push or a pull, does gravity push or pull? Yes it does. It pulls objects towards the source of that pull. So it's a force by definition.
Now a more interesting question and the one that Neb et al. are answering, what's the source of that pull? Is it warped space or some yet undetected boson called a graviton? The other three fundamental forces of nature use bosons to mediate their forces. So why not gravity?
But I tend to believe the evidence. And the observations that validate the general theory of relativity's point of view indicate that the effects we call gravity stem from warped space. There have been no tests or observations to validate the graviton.
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Tom say: As Einstein said, TIME is an important aspect of Gravity.
Time is A fourth Dimension--it is "dynamic" meaning this dimension is forever moving at a function of light speed, and inherent in ALL matter. So everything is "moving" the same rate in the same 4D direction. Since the rate and direction are the same we really do NOT see any of this "movement" (its 4D anyway).
its like riding in the back of a car at a constant speed with no windows. Everything looks to be in its place with nothing in any unusual motion. But if the car makes a turn, we feel a "force" pulling us to the side (inertia)